Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Murder in the marshes

Death of an Expert Witness by P.D. James

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Death of an Expert Witness feels like a classic P.D. James Dalgliesh novel- a forensic scientist with a lot of enemies is discovered murdered in the lab, and Dalgliesh is called in to find out whodunnit.  The setting for this Dalgliesh outing is a private forensic lab near the small town of Ely, which is 14 miles north of Cambridge.  Ely is part of England’s fenlands, which is a low-lying coastal plain similar to Holland.  James’ ability to tie her mysteries to her setting is […]

cbr12bingo – Adaptation!

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

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It is 1954, and a young man named Atticus is headed home to Chicago. In Chicago he will find his beloved uncle and aunt, who together run The Safe Negro Travel Guide and Travel Agency. His uncle, like himself, is a lover of pulp novels and dime store comics. His aunt travels the country alone, adding stops to the travel guide while looking at the stars. He’ll find his little cousin, a comic-book hound and talented artist. He’ll find his old friend Titia, who has […]

An Indictment of the Court System

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

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Bingo Square: Adaptation (movie) I vaguely remember reading the movie review on Pajiba when this movie came out, and it described it as good but formulaic, so I didn’t go out of my way to watch it (not that I have been watching a lot of dramas to start with).  When it became free to rent, I decided to check it out, and while I can see why from a movie reviewer perspective one might describe it as formulaic, there is a reason for that […]

Book Club Discussion Post: Good Omens Show Adaptation

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The time has come, a table has become available at the Ritz, so let’s sit down and chat about Good Omens, both the television show and the book. First, some boilerplate: for those of you who might be joining in for #CannonBookClub for the first time (hello new friends!) all are welcome. The topics are numbered, and we ask that you refer to them below by that number to help people find the conversation topics they are looking for. If you are responding to someone else’s […]

“And in a way I have always thought that words are alive a little, for they can whisper sweet nothings and roar dragon flame with equal efficiency.”

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

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I am a big fan of Lyndsay Faye, but I couldn’t really pick up her 2016 work Jane Steele until now because I had not read Jane Eyre until late last year. While I’m sure you could read Jane Steele without reading Jane Eyre, I don’t know if you’d really see all that Faye is accomplishing in this work if you did. For that reason alone, I’m glad I waited. I love a quality retelling and Faye is absolutely delivering on that front. Jane Steele […]

The Play’s the Thing

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The edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Play a Play I read is no longer in print. Hopefully this new edition is just a new cover and has not changed the work of Richard R. George . Roald Dahl introduces the play with a short introduction of how it was sent to him. The end of the play has staging, lighting and other ideas of how you can perform this version yourself. The middle is the play. It follows the movie closely in areas […]



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